Registration ongoing for Rogers Summer Adventure Camp
The Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center is offering Summer Adventure Camp again this year, beginning on July 8. The weekly sessions follow the themes of Joys of Summer, Amazing Adventures, Call of the Wild, Magical Woodland, and Curious Naturalists. (Photo by Dustin Genter of 5th Dimension Photography)
SHERBURNE — Registration is on now for Rogers Summer Adventure Camp, which begins on July 8 at the Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, located at 2721 State Route 80 in Sherburne.
The camp is broken into three age groups: 4 to 6 year olds, 7 to 11 year olds, and 12 to 15 year olds. Week-long camp sessions for the youngest group will be from 9 a.m. to noon each day, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the older groups.
Registration fees for Junior Explorers, or 4 to 6 year olds, is $149 for members and $190 for the general public. Registration for 7 to 11 year old Explorers and 12 to 15 year old Adventurers is $199 for members and $245 for the general public.
Friends of Rogers Environmental Educator Ellen Rathbone said space is limited, and she recommends signing up for camp sooner rather than later, and at least a week before the desired camp session.
To register, visit FriendsofRogers.org/summer-camp.
She said this year's camp, like last year's, will be a bit different than the Rogers Summer Camp from past years.
"It's not your grandfather’s Rogers Summer Camp," she said. "It’s a lot less of, hey, what are we going to do today? As more scheduled with, this is the topic for today, here’s what we’re going to learn, and allow the days to build on the previous days in the week."
The first session of camp, "Joys of Summer," will run from July 8 to July 12 for 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds.
"That particular session is all those things that make summer fun for kids. So we’ll be making and flying kites, playing in the water, playing games, building forts," Rathbone said. "So it’s just kind of a very general, let’s go outdoors and have fun sort of a camp."
July 15 to 18 will be "Amazing Adventures" for 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds, with each day featuring a different adventure and theme, such as Viking day, the amazing nature race, and primitive skills.
July 22 to 26 will be "Call of the Wild," which is open to 7 to 11 year olds only, is what Rathbone describes as "caveman camp."
"It’s a full week of primitive skills. The kids are divided into clans, each clan has its name, and they’ll be working on all sorts of primitive skills," said Rathbone. "Shelter building, some tracking skills, they'll learn to make slingshots, we do proto-spears. So it's all sorts of things that a lot of places call survival skills."
Week four of camp, from July 29 to August 2, will be "Magical Woodland." This session is open to 7 to 11 year olds, who will learn about nature with a Harry Potter-esque spin. Rathbone said campers will be divided into different Rogers houses, take classes on "herbology," and craft potions.
"They’ll learn plants and what they’re used for. We’ll do potions, which we’ll be making like a healing salve. Stuff that’s legitimate, not just throwing a bunch of things together and saying, wow, this does such and such. We’ll be doing real stuff," she explained. "We’ll do some care of magical creatures so we’ll be looking at some of the critters that are around here; we give them different names, but we’ll still be learning biology with them."
Campers will also get to play games such as a whomping willow game and dragon tag, as well as competing all week for the coveted house cup.
The final week of camp includes a second session of "Joys of Summer," which will be open to 4 to 6 year olds, as well as "Curious Naturalists" for 12 to 15 year olds.
"This is for the kids who have basically aged out of our regular camp but who are really into nature and want to learn more about it," Rathbone said. "They want to learn about bugs and trees and flowers and things like that. So for the curious naturalist we’ll be spending each day looking at a different branch of natural history. They will spend time each day doing nature journaling, so they’ll have their own sit spot where they’ll go each day and spend time observing and recording stuff in their journals."
Rathbone will also be receiving help from Friends of Rogers interns from various colleges in the area, including one returning student who will act as Rathbone's Assistant Camp Director.
She also said financial assistance may be available for camp registration fees.
"One of our longtime members, she emailed me the other day and said that she and her husband would like to sponsor. So there is a possibility for that," she said. "If anybody is interested, but they just can’t swing it, they should contact us and we’ll see what we can do for them. They might get a partial ride or a full ride, it all depends."
In addition to Summer Adventure Camp, Friends of Rogers has plenty of other exciting events coming up. Parents can sign up their 2 to 5 year olds for Nature's Nursery, where kids spend 8:15 to 10:15 a.m. every Wednesday for eight weeks "exploring, experimenting, and playing outside to experience the changing of the seasons."
The eight-week session runs from March 20 through May 15. Registration is $125 per child, and must be received by March 13. For more information or to register, contact jenni@friendsofrogers.org.
Every Monday morning Rathbone leads the Monday Morning Ramble, which is a leisurely exploration of the Rogers Center trails or nearby locations. The group departs every Monday morning at 10 a.m. for about two hours. Beginning April 13, Rathbone will also be leading monthly Wildflower Walkabouts through June.
On March 20, celebrate the Spring Equinox at Rogers Center's Equinox Nature Trivia Night at 7 p.m. Individuals or teams can test their knowledge of birds, mammals, insects, biologists, and more for prizes. Rathbone said if the weather is nice, trivia will be held outdoors at the fire pit, and participants should bring a head lamp as it will get dark before trivia wraps up. If the weather is poor, trivia will be moved indoors.
April 20 will bring Friends of Rogers' annual Earth Day celebration, which will follow the theme "Get to Know Your Wild Neighbors."
"I really wanted to focus on people who come learning about what is the native wildlife and what are the native plants? You’re not going to find spider monkeys out here or alligators, but we want them to know these are the plants and animals that call Central New York home and have for hundreds of years," Rathbone said.
The celebration will also include a native plant nursery with plants for sale, a live native tree and shrub giveaway, geothermal companies set up to provide information on living a greener lifestyle, Sherburne Electric sharing information on heat pumps, and a representative from the Oneida Nations teaching more about native plants and their uses.
The following weekend, from April 26 to 29, will be the City Nature Challenge, a worldwide competition that encourages individuals to get out in nature and record the plants, bugs, and wildlife they see on the iNaturalist app.
For more information on the Friends of Rogers and upcoming events, visit FriendsofRogers.org or the Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, Inc. Facebook page.
The camp is broken into three age groups: 4 to 6 year olds, 7 to 11 year olds, and 12 to 15 year olds. Week-long camp sessions for the youngest group will be from 9 a.m. to noon each day, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the older groups.
Registration fees for Junior Explorers, or 4 to 6 year olds, is $149 for members and $190 for the general public. Registration for 7 to 11 year old Explorers and 12 to 15 year old Adventurers is $199 for members and $245 for the general public.
Friends of Rogers Environmental Educator Ellen Rathbone said space is limited, and she recommends signing up for camp sooner rather than later, and at least a week before the desired camp session.
To register, visit FriendsofRogers.org/summer-camp.
She said this year's camp, like last year's, will be a bit different than the Rogers Summer Camp from past years.
"It's not your grandfather’s Rogers Summer Camp," she said. "It’s a lot less of, hey, what are we going to do today? As more scheduled with, this is the topic for today, here’s what we’re going to learn, and allow the days to build on the previous days in the week."
The first session of camp, "Joys of Summer," will run from July 8 to July 12 for 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds.
"That particular session is all those things that make summer fun for kids. So we’ll be making and flying kites, playing in the water, playing games, building forts," Rathbone said. "So it’s just kind of a very general, let’s go outdoors and have fun sort of a camp."
July 15 to 18 will be "Amazing Adventures" for 4 to 6 and 7 to 11 year olds, with each day featuring a different adventure and theme, such as Viking day, the amazing nature race, and primitive skills.
July 22 to 26 will be "Call of the Wild," which is open to 7 to 11 year olds only, is what Rathbone describes as "caveman camp."
"It’s a full week of primitive skills. The kids are divided into clans, each clan has its name, and they’ll be working on all sorts of primitive skills," said Rathbone. "Shelter building, some tracking skills, they'll learn to make slingshots, we do proto-spears. So it's all sorts of things that a lot of places call survival skills."
Week four of camp, from July 29 to August 2, will be "Magical Woodland." This session is open to 7 to 11 year olds, who will learn about nature with a Harry Potter-esque spin. Rathbone said campers will be divided into different Rogers houses, take classes on "herbology," and craft potions.
"They’ll learn plants and what they’re used for. We’ll do potions, which we’ll be making like a healing salve. Stuff that’s legitimate, not just throwing a bunch of things together and saying, wow, this does such and such. We’ll be doing real stuff," she explained. "We’ll do some care of magical creatures so we’ll be looking at some of the critters that are around here; we give them different names, but we’ll still be learning biology with them."
Campers will also get to play games such as a whomping willow game and dragon tag, as well as competing all week for the coveted house cup.
The final week of camp includes a second session of "Joys of Summer," which will be open to 4 to 6 year olds, as well as "Curious Naturalists" for 12 to 15 year olds.
"This is for the kids who have basically aged out of our regular camp but who are really into nature and want to learn more about it," Rathbone said. "They want to learn about bugs and trees and flowers and things like that. So for the curious naturalist we’ll be spending each day looking at a different branch of natural history. They will spend time each day doing nature journaling, so they’ll have their own sit spot where they’ll go each day and spend time observing and recording stuff in their journals."
Rathbone will also be receiving help from Friends of Rogers interns from various colleges in the area, including one returning student who will act as Rathbone's Assistant Camp Director.
She also said financial assistance may be available for camp registration fees.
"One of our longtime members, she emailed me the other day and said that she and her husband would like to sponsor. So there is a possibility for that," she said. "If anybody is interested, but they just can’t swing it, they should contact us and we’ll see what we can do for them. They might get a partial ride or a full ride, it all depends."
In addition to Summer Adventure Camp, Friends of Rogers has plenty of other exciting events coming up. Parents can sign up their 2 to 5 year olds for Nature's Nursery, where kids spend 8:15 to 10:15 a.m. every Wednesday for eight weeks "exploring, experimenting, and playing outside to experience the changing of the seasons."
The eight-week session runs from March 20 through May 15. Registration is $125 per child, and must be received by March 13. For more information or to register, contact jenni@friendsofrogers.org.
Every Monday morning Rathbone leads the Monday Morning Ramble, which is a leisurely exploration of the Rogers Center trails or nearby locations. The group departs every Monday morning at 10 a.m. for about two hours. Beginning April 13, Rathbone will also be leading monthly Wildflower Walkabouts through June.
On March 20, celebrate the Spring Equinox at Rogers Center's Equinox Nature Trivia Night at 7 p.m. Individuals or teams can test their knowledge of birds, mammals, insects, biologists, and more for prizes. Rathbone said if the weather is nice, trivia will be held outdoors at the fire pit, and participants should bring a head lamp as it will get dark before trivia wraps up. If the weather is poor, trivia will be moved indoors.
April 20 will bring Friends of Rogers' annual Earth Day celebration, which will follow the theme "Get to Know Your Wild Neighbors."
"I really wanted to focus on people who come learning about what is the native wildlife and what are the native plants? You’re not going to find spider monkeys out here or alligators, but we want them to know these are the plants and animals that call Central New York home and have for hundreds of years," Rathbone said.
The celebration will also include a native plant nursery with plants for sale, a live native tree and shrub giveaway, geothermal companies set up to provide information on living a greener lifestyle, Sherburne Electric sharing information on heat pumps, and a representative from the Oneida Nations teaching more about native plants and their uses.
The following weekend, from April 26 to 29, will be the City Nature Challenge, a worldwide competition that encourages individuals to get out in nature and record the plants, bugs, and wildlife they see on the iNaturalist app.
For more information on the Friends of Rogers and upcoming events, visit FriendsofRogers.org or the Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, Inc. Facebook page.
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